


Guessing Game

by Shalnark



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, First fic published here, I have no idea how tags work, M/M, Mutual Pining, idk man this is for a secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28213479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shalnark/pseuds/Shalnark
Summary: In which, the new coffee shop employee decides to put money on the table on whether or not Sakyo can guess his main occupation.
Relationships: Furuichi Sakyou/Yukishiro Azuma
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	Guessing Game

Sakyo had always arrived at his favorite coffee shop at 6 AM sharp. Right before the rush hour kicked in so he could get in and out quickly. Time was valuable to him and he had the full intention to use it in a productive fashion. Or rather he was going to, but the new employee seemed far too interested in talking to him.

“So, what’s your favorite coffee?” The man with the white hair asked as he made his drink with fluid motions. Sakyo studied him, before he let out a tired sigh. At least Azuma -or at least that was what was written on the name tag - knew what he was doing.

“I don’t like coffee. I just need it,” the blonde stated blandly, not one for conversation this early in the morning. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to waking up early. It was just that ever since the autumn troupe practice had started it had drained all his energy. 

“Tough job?” Azuma asked with a smile resting on his handsome features. Though not that it ever left in the first place. He seemed to have a perpetually relaxed demeanor. Not even bothering to reply, Sakyo started to pull out his wallet, but paused when the white haired man continued, “Let’s play a guessing game.”

“...Pardon?” The blonde asked in an irritated tone. Azuma couldn’t possibly be serious. That was a ridiculous thing to say to a customer, especially one as annoyed as him. However, the white haired man took it in stride.

“We guess each other’s jobs are each time we come in here. You get the order no matter what he guessed. However, if we get it right there will be a prize. What do you say?” Azuma offered.

“Unless you can offer ¥100,000 I doubt it’s worth it,” Sakyo said with crossed arms. People were starting to trickle in now.

“Oh, is that what you want? That’s definitely doable on my side. Would you put down ground rules to make it harder to guess? It certainly wouldn’t be fun if it ended too soon.” Azuma said calmly as he tucked a lock of white hair behind his ear. And the blonde was almost enticed into the offer, before his purple eyes narrowed.

“Hold on. What’s your prize?” Sakyo asked.

“Oh, you caught that? I want to spend the evening with you,” Azuma replied casually as he typed in the order into the cash register.

“Like sexually..?” At his age that certainly wasn’t an offer asked to him often, much less by someone as beautiful as Azuma was. Much to his relief the white haired man shook his head. But, even platonically that was an unusual thing to do with someone you just met- made even weirder by the fact that Sakyo didn’t exactly seem all that friendly. 

“That’ll be ¥300,” Azuma said casually as he handed Sakyo his drink. 

“Oi. What about the rules?” The blonde asked harshly, but Azuma took in stride. He placed a slender finger on his cheek, looking up as he thought.

“We’re picking just one of our jobs to guess. For example, mine wouldn’t be this one. And we can’t look into each other’s backgrounds for this, as that would be cheating. Hello miss, what would you like to drink?” Azuma turned towards his new customer with a customer service voice, to which Sakyo finally noticed the line that was forming behind him. 

He was half tempted to question if that was all the rules the white haired man was putting into action, but it seemed he had his hands full. Taking a sip of the bitter beverage he made his way back to the mankai dorms. Despite the small amount of rules, it did make the game significantly harder. With a sigh, he decided on which job he would pick. And it was a good choice, considering that if he picked the other the game would be over instantly.

“Yakuza,” Azuma said the next morning as he was handing him his drink. 

“Did you already know that was my job or did that come out of left field?” Sakyo said with a scowl, but Azuma merely chuckled. Admittedly it was a pleasant sound.

“I just think you have the vibe,” the white haired man said with a lax demeanor, though his gold eyes were calculating. 

“You’re surprisingly perceptive,” Sakyo said after sipping his coffee.

“Not really. I’ve just met all kinds of people through my job,” Azuma said as he leaned forward, his hand playing with his long hair. He seemed to open his mouth to say more, but Sakyo cut him off.

“but that’s not the job I chose,” the blonde replied, an amused smirk resting on his face. 

“Oh? Well, I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon,” The white haired man said as he stood back up. Azuma was confident, but Sakyo would probably end it here and now.

“Barista. You clearly know what you’re doing, despite being a newbie,” the blonde said with crossed arms. His smirk quickly turned into a frown at Azuma’s response.

“Oh my. That’s nice of you to say, but I just like making coffee.” He said his words light as a feather and Sakyo let out an exasperated sigh. Next time he would get it. But he was stuck for a week, before he finally said to the cashier.

“Let’s spend time together.” It was phrased like an order rather than a question. He could probably get something out of him that way.

“Oh? Are you asking me on a date?” Azuma asked in a lighthearted tone. Sakyo didn’t know if that was his customer service voice or his default, but either way he had the wrong idea.

“No. Just we would probably go drink.Unless you have a better idea,” Sakyo answered. It sounded more like a threat than anything else and he wasn’t used to being the one to ask someone to hang out to begin with, but if he wanted to guess Azuma’s occupation then he needed information out of the man. The white haired man hummed, before nodding and giving his contact information.

“You’re very cute,” Azuma said with a flushed face, him swirling the alcohol in his glass with a delicate touch. He was the type of drunk to get very flirty. Sakyo expected that, but he still raised a blonde eyebrow at his statement. 

“Cute?” Sakyo questioned in disbelief. He drummed his fingers on the wooden table. It was a nice table, using expensive wood and kept immaculately clean. Actually the whole place seemed like it was expensively furnished. The fading light of dawn filtered through the windows and added a faint glow. Azuma had picked this place out himself, so his job must pay well.

“Mhm, we both look pretty young for our age. Your skin is in surprisingly good condition and your hair is like gold. You also look good with glasses,” Azuma rambled on, as Sakyo studied him.

Sakyo had bad eyesight, but he wasn’t blind so even he could tell this man was gorgeous. His pristine white hair rested on his shoulder in silky waves, fair skin looked flawless and soft to the touch. His body was in good condition, albeit maybe a little on the underweight side. Azuma’s striking golden eyes looked at him from under thick white lashes, his cheek resting on his hand as he gazed at Sakyo in the drunken stupor. The blonde wanted to mention that he was not as beautiful the man before him.

“You’re drunk,” is what he said instead. The intoxication must be getting to his head. 

“But it wasn’t a lie,” the white haired man gave him a grin. Well… it’s not like it ever left his face to begin with. Suddenly the white haired man tapped his lips gently in thought, his eyes slyly looking at the blonde. “Though you do have a few wrinkles.”

“Shut your trap,” Sakyo scowled.

“It’s true though. We’re both getting old, huh?” Azuma teased and the blonde had to roll his eyes.

“This is from stress,” the man replied to the white haired man in a flat tone, though the statement had him raise his brow. Azuma mentioned being old, but he didn’t look like he could be a day past his early twenties. Locking eyes with his drunken company he asked, “How old are you?” 

“Taking an interest in me? I’m glad,” The white haired man joked with his eyes lighting up with amusement. 

“Just answer the question,” Sakyo stated with the scowl back on his face. 

“Wanna guess?” Azuma asked as he learned forward. He gently placed his glass down, focusing his full attention on the blonde. He’s expert eyes would make most people give in, but as someone who worked in the yakuza it didn’t have much of an effect.

“No, thank you.” The blonde wasn’t going to waste time with something he would probably get wrong. The man was an enigma in more ways than one, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to delve too deep into someone he would probably never see again. Once the game was over he’d probably avoid the coffee shop for good.

“That’s too bad I wanted to see if you were the first person to get it right,” Azuma replied and Sakyo breathed out a sigh - something he seemed to be doing often lately. Azuma was probably drunk enough to be honest with him about his job, but on the off chance he wasn’t he’d have to tread carefully.

“So, what made you take up your barista job. You’ve clearly got a stable income,” Sakyo asked, starting to feel a little lightheaded. Azuma paused, his happy expression becoming wistful for a fraction of a second, before the walls were back up.

“I just wanted something to do in the day time,” he replied in good nature, though - and Sakyo wasn’t sure if it was his drunken mind playing tricks on him - his tone seemed a bit more tense than usual. 

“That’s all?” The blonde gave him a hard stare, one that would intimidate most people, but Azuma didn’t budge.

“Of course,” the white haired man leaned back. It seemed Sakyo had stumbled upon a taboo subject. However, he did get information on his job. It happened at night and the pay was expensive.

Within the next month, the two often went out to drink. Sakyo had pieced together that Azuma probably slept with people for a living. He didn’t know the details nor did he want to know the details. Half of him wanted to tell the man to get a healthier occupation, but it wasn’t his place to tell his friend what to do when they’re content with their lifestyle. Afterall, you gotta do what you gotta due to pay the rent. Friend. That’s what they are at this point, wasn’t it? 

Even if they unspokenly called themselves that, they kept a certain distance from each other. It was as if they were dancing around the idea of getting closer. They both had walls up, and the blonde wasn’t sure if he wanted to crumble them or not.

“I’m free this Thursday if you would like to spend time together again.” Azuma’s words broke Sakyo out of his thoughts. The blonde took the coffee from him, hands barely brushing together. His frown deepened in reaction. He recognized mutual pining easily, but neither would take the first step.

“Let’s see a movie then.” Sakyo decided that if Azuma wouldn’t, he would. The white haired man’s mouth opened slightly before it reverted back into a grin, though it seemed a bit more genuine this time around.

“Then it’s a date.” 

The date itself started with a hang out at a cafe. The decor was more on the modern side and seemed to be trying too hard to appeal to the younger generation. Azuma assured him the food was good, however. 

“I’ve never seen you actually drink coffee,” Sakyo commented when Azuma merely ordered a glass of water. He looked up from over his salad. 

“Oh, store bought stuff is not very good. If you only had coffee at our shop you’re really missing out,” the white haired man said before proceeding to go into explaining his process of making coffee. Then ended with, “I should make you a cup some time.”

“We’ll see if I’ll like it,” was all Sakyo said in response. His expression was doubtful, a scowl on his face. 

“There it is again,” Azuma commented. 

“What?” Sakyo narrowed his purple eyes and only met calm gold hues. 

“The reason for your wrinkles,” Azuma replied casually. Taking a sip of his water.

“Oh please. No one spends as much time with beauty products that you do,” the blonde’s scowled deepened, though the white haired man seemed to take immense amusement out of it. He looked at his watch and called the check. “Let’s wrap this up or we’ll be late to our movie.”

“I’m surprised you went with a romance movie. I didn’t think you were the type to like that stuff,” Azuma said as he gathered his belongings.

“I consume all media. It gets boring if you stick to one medium,” Sakyo said matter of factly, to which the white haired man chuckled.

“That’s true. Especially at our age.”

“Right?” Sakyo cracked a rare smile, though it was more of a smirk. He was used to the age comments at this point, and he doubted he would ever know Azuma’s true age. The rest of the walk was spent in comfortable silence. Though that was not to say that Sakyo's thoughts didn’t wander. The subject of those thoughts being “distance.” It was a constant in their relationship, and it was clear both sides were keeping secrets from one another. Not to mention neither had met each other’s friends. Though mankai seemed to know that Azuma existed.

Banri liked to make teasing remarks on their close relationship, and some of them were perhaps a bit too interested in meeting the man. Taichi in particular was insistent on meeting his “girlfriend.” Ha, nice assumption there. 

The movie was average and Sakyo pulled no punches on his criticism once it was done. “Typical rags to riches story. As always the girl was a broke sweetheart and the guy was a rich brat with mommy issues.”

“Sounds like a kdrama,” Azuma said, entertaining his rants. Sakyo scoffed.

“Yes, but they were more common in older shows. There’s more variety nowadays.”

“Oh speaking of shows. I’m seeing yours soon. I got it from punks who were fighting in the street.” Despite his questionable words, the tone was cheerful.

“I’ll have to talk to Banri and Juza later,” Sakyo mumbled, before his thought process stopped and he asked, “how long have you known?”

He was met with silence, but said silence spoke a thousand words. Neither of them wanted the guessing game to end. For what? Company? Attachment maybe. They could’ve talked this out like a normal human being. But instead went about this in an unconventional way. Using creative solutions in the worst way possible out of fear of rejection and trying to stay in the status quo.

“I’m sorry if I wasted too much of your time,” Azuma gave a pained smile and turned to leave, but Sakyo grabbed his wrist. He’s not letting Azuma run away. He’s gotten too attached to let fear overtake him.

“Shut your trap. Listen moron, stop pushing people away. It’s unhealthy as shit. I wouldn’t be spending time with someone who I didn’t like. Got it?”

Sakyo’s words were met with silence. Azuma’s carefully guarded face seemed to call apart. This must’ve been a touchy subject, but Sakyo wasn’t exactly known for tact.

“Look. We’ve both got issues. So we’re either gonna work through it together or you’re gonna go back to your old ways of horribly dealing with shit,” Sakyo finished and Azuma started laughing. His brow twitched. “Oi. I’m serious.” 

“I know,” Azuma said in a light hearted tone and he turned to face Sakyo. He grasped his hand and brought it up to his lips. “Next time that’ll be on the lips.”

“At least agree to date like a normal person,” Sakyo countered, though he felt himself relax. He was just glad the older man was willing to work things out, even if it didn’t show on his face. 

“I have to go to work,” Azuma said after checking his watch.

“You better not be running away.” Sakyo gave him a hard stare, but the white haired man countered him a calm smile.

“Of course not. I’ll see you at the dorms.”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N:  
> Okay so, I’ve never written Sakyo before. Idk if you can tell. I never considered Sakyo & Azuma as a pairing before, and idk if I got their dynamic right uhhhh, but writing this made me enjoy Azuma a lot more!!
> 
> Anyway! Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoyed your gift :)!!


End file.
